Viral Child
by Fuel 262
Summary: Bob helps a fellow guardian from a neighbouring system to find her runaway sister in Mainframe. Season 1. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I do not own the rights to ReBoot and have no legal or moral right to create this story. I have written it purely for entertainment purposes.

I have tried to pitch this story so it fits within the canon of Season One.

 **Chapter One**

Mainframe. A squat cylinder of orderly urban processing space, home to a myriad of binomes, a handful of assorted sprites, one guardian and one virus… a second one inhabiting Lost Angles, the mutilated corpse of Mainframe's twin city.

Hexadecimal, Queen of Chaos and malfunction, sat in her theatre and stared into space while drumming her clawed fingers against the arm of her throne, which hovered several inches above the centre of the stage.

'Why am I always alone?' Hex mused to herself, the last two words bouncing around the interior of the auditorium like a PONG puck. Scuzzy awoke from the basket he had been dozing in and zipped to his mistresses' side to comfort her. She ignored him and continued to address the empty air.

'There's no-one to keep me company...'

Scuzzy beeped in protest and tried to force himself under Hexadecimal's hand, but only succeeded in getting in the way of her perpetually pummelling fingernails.

'I've got nobody to relate to...'

Scuzzy rolled his eyes and flew at Hex's face, stopping just short with a picture of Megabyte glowing on the top of his head.

'Ooh,' Hexadecimal smiled, finally acknowledging the existence of spherical sprite, 'my dear brother… he doesn't count!' she spat, dismissing Scuzzy with a backhanded swipe that sent him hurtling off into the blackness.

Now she really was alone Hexadecimal resumed her sullen ponderings, filling the air with disconnected sentences, until she finally came to a conclusion.

'I need a baby!' she announced, cradling the idea in her arms, 'a freshly compiled, linked and deployed virus all of my very own.' She smiled wistfully at the dream, then stopped abruptly as a stray crumb from a thin slice of reality pie dropped into her mind.

'But who would be the father?'

Scuzzy reappeared in the theatre at a speed equivalent to the one he had left at, only from the opposite side of the stage to the one he had been propelled from. He screeched to a halt in Hexadecimal's lap.

'Do **you** have and idea?' she asked, intrigued. Scuzzy nodded and displayed a picture of Mainframe's most eligible bachelor.

'Bob?' she questioned, 'A Guardian? What a novel idea… A viral Guardian… I'll have to call him to tell him the good news.'

Hexadecimal waved at her mirror and Bob's face filled the glass.

Surprised, Bob yelped a little.

'Bob,' the virus smiled, coyly, 'you know how special we are to each other, don't you?'

'Uh...' Bob replied, doubtful that he was going to like what came next.

'I wondered if you would do me a little favour...' Hexadecimal suddenly trailed off staring into the space above the mirror. Bob strained to look, but he failed to see the silver droplet that expanded to form a stable portal in the roof space of Hexadecimal's private theatre.

A faint scream echoed from the portal and got steadily louder until it ended abruptly with a crash just behind the mirror.

'Er, Hex?' Bob enquired, 'are you okay?'

'What are you still doing there?' she snapped. 'I thought I told you to go.'

Bob stood, perplexed and blinking at the now empty comms screen on Glitch but absolutely certain that the virus had not told him to go.

'Would you mind explaining what that was about?' Phong asked.

'Hexadecimal wanted me to do a favour for her, but she cut the link before she said anything.' Bob explained, puzzled. 'Strange lady.' He added.

'That is an... understatement,' Phong remarked.

Bob stood in the Principal Office, next to Phong. Together they studied a vid-window that filled the entire wall, depicting a slowly rotating wireframe model of the city. Small sections of the model were highlighted in flashing purple.

Phong tutted.

'Bob, is that really the best you could do?'

Bob was a little embarrassed. 'There just wasn't a big enough space to put the User's delivery in one place...um...' Bob shuffled his feet uncertainly. 'Most of it is in... um... the same few places...'

He grinned at Phong hopefully.

Phong responded by throwing his spindly arms up in the air, scooting off a little way to mutter under his breath. Bob watched. Presently, Phong returned to the Guardian's side.

'How many more times must we go through this?' the ancient sprite asked.

'I know,' Bob sighed. 'This is not the Super Computer.'

'That's not what I was going to say.'

'It wasn't?'

Phong shook his head. It squeaked slightly.

'Sorry Phong, what were you going to say?'

'You can't just put the User's data anywhere. Splitting up files into smaller pieces to fit them into the gaps you left when you took them out is not a good habit to get into and you're getting worse. Look.'

Phong tapped a control panel, highlighting different patterns of blocks in Mainframe. Each one showed a similar pattern of fragmented colours spread throughout the city. 'Each time you have to store the User's data, it takes you longer.' Phong explained, 'See?'

The vid-window flashed up an empty pair of axis illustrating time taken to store the user's data. The red line wobbled upwards, rising progressively faster until the upper border of the vid-window was reached. Two smaller vid-windows popped up and finished the graph off. The overall shape vaguely resembled a hockey stick.

Bob squinted at the distant numbers. They were far bigger than they had any right to be.

'Y'know Phong,' Bob said. 'I'd never looked at it that way before.'

'You never had to, my child.' Phong explained. 'There is much less storage space in Mainframe. This is not the Super Computer.'

'I was waiting for you to say that,' Bob smiled.

'Yes, Bob,' Phong agreed, 'Just as you're waiting for me to tell you what needs to be done.'

'Defragmentation?'

Phong nodded. 'You will need Dot's help.'

'Okay,' Bob nodded. He knew better than to argue with Phong over such matters now.

…

Dot's Diner was buzzing.

There was a bug flying noisily around the restaurant, pursued equally as noisily by Cecil, who flapped frantically at the insect invader with a small fly swat. The bug dodged and ducked each swipe of the swat, chuckling in an evil buggy manner at the maitre d's mounting frustration

'Sacre bleu! I am not paid enough for zis!' Cecil cried as he took the corner at the end of the bar far too sharply, nearly disconnecting himself from his rails. The bug looked up and realised that the brass rail attached to ceiling was also attached to it's would be assassin, limiting his movements and reach – even if that reach was extended by a fly-swat. Scanning the ceiling, the bug spotted a dead end near the corner booths. It buzzed off to make good it's escape with Cecil racing along behind, still swiping at the insect with a determined yet futile series of alternate forehand and backhand strokes, each one capable of deleting the critter if only he could get that bit closer…

Cecil did not notice that he was running out of rail.

The maitre d' hurtled towards the window, still accelerating when he felt the tell-tale tug on his hardwiring. He tried to stop but it was too late.

A loud two-tone chime rang through the diner, closely followed by shattering glass and the hollow clatter of Cecil landing upside-down on the pavement outside.

The bug returned to admire its handiwork, buzzing impudent mirth in the face of the disconnected Diner Service Unit.

'Hmph!' Cecil snorted, shutting his eyes and folding his arms. A zip-board was approaching and he was in no mood for small-talk.

'Hey Cecil, what's up?' Bob asked as he jumped off his zip-board and directly on top of the bug, deleting it with a pathetic little squeak.

'Oh nothing much,' Cecil sighed. 'Just ze usual.'

Bob was perplexed. 'So how come you're upside-down on the pavement?'

Cecil sulked, unwilling to share the tale of his humiliation at the hand of a bug. 'I'd rather not talk about it.'

Bob shrugged. 'At least let me take you back inside.'

Before Cecil could protest, Bob picked him up and carried him back inside the diner like a portable television, reattaching his hardwiring to the ceiling. The connection announced itself with another two-tone chime that rung through the diner and the maitre d' scooted off without a word of thanks.

Bob perched on a bar stool and smiled at Dot, who did not smile back. She had emerged from the back office and seen the mess made by Cecil during his pursuit of the bug.

'I turn my back for a picosecond and this is what happens!" Dot cried. She produced a broom from apparent thin air and pushed it into Bob's hands. 'While you're here you can make yourself useful...'

'I've just come from the Principal Office,' Bob explained. 'Phong said we need to run a defrag.'

Silence erupted in the Diner.

Behind Bob, a one binome spun on its heel and collapsed in a dead faint.

A booth full of CPUs simultaneously dropped their doughnuts.

The baby binome wailed and filled its nappy.

Dot went a little pale and downed a very small, very strong energy shake that had appeared from the serving hatch.

'Was it something I said?' Bob shrugged.

'Yes.' Dot stated, hiccuping a little. She grabbed Bob by the collar and pulled him towards her. 'Come on Guardian, we've got work to do.' Before Bob could protest, Dot leapfrogged over the counter, landed on her zip-board and flew out of the door in one swift movement.

Bob wondered what had been in that energy shake... and wondered if he could have some too.

…

In her lair, Hexadecimal approached the screaming bundle that had dropped out of the sky. It was no longer screaming, but was now trying to suppress whimpering noises. The virus pulled back a corner of fabric to reveal a girl with pewter pigtails and slightly younger than Enzo. She stared back with terrified, ice-blue eyes. Hex knelt on the floor next to the girl and cradled her lilac face in her gloved hand.

'Am I your mummy?' Hex asked. The girl sat up and wrapped the black frock coat she was wearing around her. It completely covered her grey pinafore dress and prim, pink blouse.

'I already have a mummy,' the girl stated. Hex's face fell briefly, then became intrigued.

'Your mummy isn't here though, is she?'

'Um...'

'So I'll have to be you mummy now, won't I?' Hex grinned. 'Now, what shall I call you?'

The girl fixed Hexadecimal with an icy stare. 'My name is Zenna. Zenna Diode.'

'That's a pretty name.' Hex smiled. 'You can call me…. Mummy dearest.'

'I've told you, I already have a mummy.' Zenna stated firmly, holding her nerve.

'Mummy **dearest**.' The virus corrected her, beginning to get angry.

Zenna took a step back. Then turned and fled. Hex watched the small figure running away, then snapped her fingers, creating an opening in the floor beneath Zenna, which she promptly fell into, screaming, and landed back at the feet of the virus from some unspecified point in the ceiling. Hex bend down to the girl's eye level and squinted one eye at her. 'Do not do that again.' She growled, then launched into green-eyed mania again. 'I'm your mummy now and I have to keep you safe and bring you up to be a happy and productive member of society.' The virus grinned. 'It's going to be so much fun!'

Zenna's heart sank. She had a feeling that she had just escaped the frying pan, only to land straight into the fire. 'Could you tell me where I am, please?' she asked, sweetly.

Hexadecimal grinned proudly. 'This is my own personal, twisted twin city – Lost Angles!'

'Twin city?' Zenna questioned. 'You mean there's another one?'

'Oh, you don't need to worry about that,' Hex scoffed dismissively. 'Nothing worth bothering with there.' She put an arm around Zenna's tiny shoulders. 'Come and have some tea with me.'

The virus turned the girl to face a table, daintily laid out with a three tier cake stand laden with pretty cakes, elaborate pastries and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. As the pair approached the table, the teapot leaped to its feet, poured two cups of tea and sat back down again. Zenna hated tea, but she felt she had no choice other than to settle in for the long haul while she planned another escape. She decided to initiate polite conversation.

'Are you a good virus, or a bad virus?'

Hexadecimal slipped her sly smile mask on. 'I'm a very good virus indeed.' She reassured the new sprite. 'I'm going to be the very best mother you could possibly ever wish for.' The crazy virus laughed abruptly. 'Now eat up your tea like a good girl and there won't be any trouble.'

Zenna quailed under the stern gaze of Hexadecimal's narrow-eyed frown and bit heavily into a scone.

In a distant corner of the throne room, a bug crawled through a tiny opening, opened its wings and took flight.

...

Thank you for reading this! If indeed, you still are.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I do not own the rights to ReBoot and have no legal or moral right to create this story. I have written it purely for entertainment purposes.

 **CHAPTER TWO**

As preparations for the defrag got under way in the Principal Office, Bob began to understand why the reaction in the Diner had been significantly less than favourable. Most of the inhabitants of Mainframe had to be moved or enlisted to help as every unit of data stored around the city had to be identified and catalogued. Teams of binomes, under the command of Phong, systematically searched every nook and cranny of the storage levels of every sector. An alarming number of binomes had seen fit to set up home among the grey boxes of data and they proved reluctant to let the cataloguing teams in, knowing that the removal teams would soon follow...

Dot stood surrounded by vid-windows, most of which were larger than her. A bug buzzed in circles around the sprite, the angled vid-windows making a perfect velodrome for the irritating insect. Dot was determined not to let the insect distract her from her work, or let anyone else know that there was any possibility that it could be the case. She was engaged in the most critical phase of the operation - matching the size of the files with the size of the spaces available. She wanted no help from anyone, dismissing offers with a curt 'shush'.

One of the vid-windows that Dot was trying her hardest to ignore showed Bob supplying a continuous verbal update as he dodged between endless binomes frantically loading grey boxes of data into shipping containers with forklift trucks. Enzo and Frisket walked alongside him. They passed a pair of one binomes who were having difficulty manoeuvring a package of data that was over twice their size.

'To me,' the first one said.

'To you,' replied the second one.

There was a slip, a trip, a somersault and the package landed on the floor, scattering bits everywhere.

'Oh dear, oh dear.' Bob remarked, sidestepping the mess as the two binomes negotiated a clean-up operation.

'I bet Dot's not even listening.' Enzo sighed.

'Sure she is.' Bob reassured him. Frisket snorted.

'Say something that will make her listen, then,' Enzo challenged.

Bob shrugged and turned back to Glitch. 'We're in level fifteen of Baudway and I can report that… uh… there's a giant monster made of nulls stomping the scenery into pixels.'

The guardian paused. Enzo sniggered. Dot didn't flinch.

'I guess you're right.' Bob sighed and continued walking. Before they reached the next corner, Glitch emitted a distress signal and Bob immediately addressed the key tool.

'Glitch – report!'

'What is it Bob?' Enzo asked.

Bob looked alarmed. 'A ship is docking in the port. I need to get over there now.'

'I'm coming too!' Enzo announced and jumped on his zip board to follow the guardian.

'I should probably take you back to the Principal Office – it could be anyone arriving.'

'Aw, Bob...'

Bob sighed. 'Okay, just be careful and make sure you do what I say.'

'Yes sir!'

As they approached the dockside, a fleet of CPUs came into view and lined up along the edge of the city where the solid ground met the Energy Sea. Further inland, binomes drove forklift trucks loaded with pallets full of data, shuttling them between shipping containers and huge lifts leading to the lower levels of the city. Bob and Enzo alighted next to a pair of binomes wearing blue hard hats and slurping mugs of thick, orange tea with the teaspoon standing vertically in the centre.

The one binome poked himself in the eye and yelped in pain. The zero binome patted him on the shoulder and the one binome burst into tears and hugged his colleague, clearly unused to being on the receiving end of affection or sympathy. The zero awkwardly hugged back and shrugged at Enzo as he walked past.

A small phishing boat with a solo pilot at the helm glinted on the horizon. Bob ordered Glitch into a pair of binoculars and took a closer look. The craft approached steadily at a brisk pace and Bob was soon able to make out the identity of the pilot. It was a Guardian wearing the same standard uniform as Bob, with lilac skin and pewter coloured hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, save for one strand tucked behind her right ear. She did not look like she was travelling for fun.

'Why would a Guardian be travelling by boat?' Enzo asked when Bob told him what he could see. 'Why didn't she open a portal?'

'Maybe she likes boats.' Bob suggested, putting the binoculars away and striding towards the dock where the vessel was preparing to moor, hoping he was giving out the right balance of friendliness and authority. A binome caught the rope the guardian threw to him and proficiently tied it to a brass bollard. Thanking the binome as she disembarked, she acknowledged Bob and Enzo with a curt nod.

Bob stepped up to introduce himself. 'I am guardian four five two – please state your name and purpose.'

'Guardian one four eight,'' The newcomer replied. 'Ideal Diode. I have come to take my sister home.'

'Your sister?' Bob repeated. 'I've never come across a sprite from the Ideal family in Mainframe.'

'I followed the signature of the portal she opened.' Ideal explained.

Bob looked puzzled and consulted Glitch. 'We have no record of any portals opening within the city.'

'My measurements are never wrong.' Ideal retorted. A bug buzzed at Ideal's face on an apparent collision course and was snatched out of the air by the guardian, who held it tightly within her closed fist.'My sister is definitely somewhere in this system. I will find her and I will bring her home.'

'We will certainly help you find her,' Bob offered, 'But Mainframe is quite a big place and it will take quite a while if we don't have any pointers to follow.'

'What about Lost Angles?' Enzo piped up, 'that's not **in** Mainframe, but it's close enough.'

'Lost Angles?' Ideal questioned.

'Mainframe used to have a twin city, but it was destroyed in an accident. Lost angles is all that remains,' Bob explained, poking tiny buttons on Glitch, looking for portal signatures. He found one.

'And it's uninhabited?'

'No, a virus called Hexadecimal lives there.'

Ideal's jaw dropped.

'You let a virus live… oh wait...' A look of realisation dawned on Ideal's face. 'You're Bob, aren't you? You believe viruses can be reprogrammed, don't you?'

'It's a theory I've got.' Bob shrugged, non-committally.

Ideal dropped her head to one side. 'I'd like to talk to you about that, but not until we have saved my sister from that virus!'

'I think we can manage that.' Bob smiled. ' But we should make a start for Lost Angles. Hopefully you sister has stayed out of Hexadecimal's way.' Recognising the look of alarm of Ideal's face, Bob quickly backtracked. 'Hex isn't particularly dangerous as such, but she can be quite, um, intense.'

'I'll bear that in mind,' Ideal answered and watched Bob mound his zip-board and take off on a course around the city's perimeter, with Enzo following closely behind.

'Isn't it quicker to go through the city?' Enzo asked?

Bob glanced over his shoulder. 'I don't trust her enough to take her on a guided tour of Mainframe. I don't think she's a proper guardian.'

'Because she's a girl?' Enzo piped up.

'What? No!' Bob objected, startled that Enzo would think such a thing. 'Her attitude just isn't sitting right with me. Plus the guardian one four eight guardian going my the name of Diode that I knew about, was a man.'

'So it is because she's a girl then?'

Bob frowned at Enzo. 'You're determined, aren't you?'

Enzo flashed a cheeky grin at Bob. 'Maybe the Diode you knew is her father?'

'Maybe.'

Ideal looked at the bug in her hand. A single, round eye, not unlike a binome's eye, looked back at her and blinked. The back of the bug was navy blue and marked with green arrows and small rectangles. Any resident of Mainframe would have recognized Megabyte's insignia, but Ideal did not. She slipped it into her pocket and followed Bob to Lost Angles.

...

Thank you for reading, if indeed you still are.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I do not own the rights to ReBoot and have no legal or moral right to create this story. I have written it purely for entertainment purposes.

 **CHAPTER THREE**

Megabyte sat in his control room with a bank of vid-windows in front of him. Beyond that sat rows of viral binomes all wearing virtual reality goggles and manipulating console controllers. Each vid-window screen displayed a scene of Mainframe as if a camera was flying through it. Above the binomes an incomplete wireframe 3d map of Mainframe rotated slowly. Slowly, incrementally, more and more of the highways and byways of the city were filled in. Megabyte admired one of his bugs, holding it aloft on the end of one of his yellow claws.

'Soon,' he crooned, 'I will have complete knowledge of every part of Mainframe. There will be nowhere to hide, especially now Dot is so helpfully organizing everything for me.' He grinned and drew in a deep breath as if to start laughing triumphantly, but paused when he saw that one of the screens was filled with static. He beckoned the screen closer and slid a timeline pointer back until he saw the silvery lilac face of Ideal Diode the guardian fill the screen.

'A second guardian?' he remarked, incredulously. The virus brought up the stats for the camera drone and a pinging red dot indicated that the bug and it's unwitting courier were headed beyond the city limits and over the Gilded Gate Bridge to Lost Angles. Megabyte narrowed his eyes and summoned Hack and Slash. They arrived as promptly and noisily as usual, falling over each other to pledge their loyalty and willingness to do his unscrupulous bidding.

'I want you two to track down that new guardian and bring her to me,' Megabyte commanded. 'I want to know what she's doing here and then get rid of her.'

'You wouldn't hurt a lady, would you, boss?' Hack asked.

'But she's a guardian,' Slash argued, 'she can take care of herself.'

Megabyte sighed. 'Go!' he ordered.

Startled, Hack and Slash turned and scooted out of the room while chorusing their enthusiasm to excel at their task. Megabyte watched them go, and returned to his gloating over the map.

…

The Guardians and Enzo approached the twisted nightmare that marked the entryway to Lost Angles. Bob landed his zip-board and proceeded on foot. Ideal questioned this.

'Trust me – it's safer on foot.' Bob explained.

'Yeah, because Hexadecimal is totally random!' Enzo cut in enthusiastically. 'She can do all sorts of crazy stuff like...'

'Enzo, please don't.' Bob interrupted. 'You'll upset Ideal.'

Enzo cast a sideways glance at the second guardian who was peering behind a wheelie bin. She bent a little lower to investigate something, then leaped back suddenly when Frisket jumped out at her, barking defensively. Ideal glared at the dumpster dog for a moment, then lunged forward with a savage snarl, lifting her upper lip to reveal incisors of unusual viciousness for a guardian.

Frisket looked startled and stopped barking. Enzo and Bob raised an eyebrow each.

'Enzo, could you wait here while I search Lost Angles with Ideal? I've got a feeling she might make it out okay on her own.'

Enzo nodded in agreement.

Ideal folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently on the floor until she had regained Bob's attention.

'Excuse me.' She interrupted. 'But my sister is in that place and I would appreciate it if we got a shift on to rescue her from this place which is apparently "too dangerous" even for zip boards.'

Bob bridled at being scolded like a slothful adolescent by a sprite who looked barely into adulthood herself and felt it was necessary to use air quotes, even if she was a guardian. 'Could you tell us what your sister looks like, so we know who we're looking for?'

Ideal sighed. 'She's called Zenna, wears a lot of black, has pigtails and it a bit smaller than him.' she said, pointing at Enzo.

'My name is Enzo.' Enzo pointed out crossly.

'Enzo, mind you manners.' Bob rebuked him. 'Now wait here for us – I know you can do this.'

'Yes sir!' Enzo smiled, standing to attention as the two guardians embarked on a journey across the Gilded Gate Bridge. They disappeared over the brow of a rise in the path, only to reappear significantly further along their journey… sideways.

A small part of Enzo was rather glad to not be going with them.

'Now we wait here and see if this Zenna kid makes her own way out of Lost Angles.' Enzo told Frisket. 'Then I can prove to Bob that I can look after other people as well as myself.'

Frisket whined questioningly. Enzo patted his shoulder. 'I know, we'll always look out for each other.'

…

Zenna stared, glassy-eyed at the pile of empty plates and tower of used teacups in front of her. Hexadecimal clearly enjoyed baking and having tea-parties, which Zenna found baffling since she did not witness the virus consuming a single bite of cake or sip of tea during the entire feast. The girl gingerly manoeuvred herself out of the seat, hoping to make a quick exit. As Zenna waddled towards the door, Hexadecimal burst through it carrying a box of mint chocolates labelled "0x08++".

'Where do you think you're going?' Hex asked, glaring right into Zenna's eyes.

'I need to go to the bathroom.' Zenna hiccuped.

'Don't you want a mint first?'

'No thank you, I'm quite full.'

'It's wafer thin...' Hex smiled coyly.

'You have been so generous already,' Zenna smiled back. 'But I really do have to… you know...' the girl danced on the spot to reinforce her point. 'It's all the lovely tea you made.'

Hexadecimal looked unimpressed.

'It's that way.' she stated, pointing at a door behind Zenna that she could have sworn was not there earlier.

'Thank you very much,' Zenna nodded and disappeared through the door as fast as her full stomach would let her.

Hexadecimal snapped her fingers and the door disappeared.

Zenna gazed around the extravagantly decorated bathroom complete with roll-top bath help up by a great many little legs. On closer inspection, the hot and cold water spouts turned out to be little porcelain replicas of Hexadecimal's apocalyptically mad and desperately sad masks. Zenna crouched behind a gilded basin with a petrified binome in the centre that perpetually squirted a stream of perfume up into a graceful parabola that cascaded down into the basin below. When she was sure that she was alone, Zenna fished around in the pockets of her coat and brought out a guardian's key tool.

'Lexie,' she whispered. 'System scan.'

Zenna peered at the tiny circular screen and squinted.

'Widen scan area.'

This brought Mainframe into view as well. Zenna smiled, showing neat, but distinctly pointy, teeth.

'Lexie. Short range portal.'

A portal opened in front of Zenna and she stepped through, searching the horizon for the Principal Office while a bug buzzed directly in her face. Zenna flapped at it with her hands, and the insect settled in one of the folds of her coat where it was instantly forgotten. Zenna spotted the distant spherical form of the Principal Office and set off at a run, managing to cover quite a lot of ground before the sound of heavy, furious paws approaching from behind gave the sprite cause for alarm. Zenna glanced over her shoulder and saw Frisket galloping up behind her, with Enzo following close behind on his zip-board. Deciding not to wait to find out if the teeth and lolling tongue indicated that this was the dog's playing face, Zenna launched herself vertically at the nearest building and clung on to the drainpipe.

Enzo hovered up to Zenna's height, curious about the unfamiliar sprite that Frisket had taken such a dislike to. The he recognised her.

'You're Zenna!' Enzo called out triumphantly. 'Bob and your sister have gone into Lost Angles to look for you!'

'Who's Bob?' Zenna asked.

'Bob is the guardian of this system and, um... I'm his assistant, Enzo Matrix.' the sprite grinned, enthusiastically.

'Does he know there is a crazy virus that calls herself Hexadecimal living in Lost Angles. She tried to take me prisoner!'

Enzo laughed. 'Sure he does. Bob can handle Hex any slot of the cycle.'

Zenna looked dubious. 'I hope you're right.'

…

Hack and Slash studied the map of Mainframe as they flew towards the point in the city marked by a flashing red dot.

'I can't believe we found her so quickly.' Slash remarked.

'I know!' Hack replied 'Aren't we clever! Megabyte is going to be so proud of us!'

'I don't think we've got the right person.' Slash admitted.

'Of course we have!' Hack retorted, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

'How come the lady in the second picture has got little plaits in her hair, but the lady in the first one has got a ponytail?'

'Women are always changing their hair.' Hack pointed out firmly. 'And there she is!'

Hack and Slash slowed and hovered a short distance from where Zenna clung to a drainpipe while Enzo tried to talk her down.

'Frisket won't hurt you – I promise!' Enzo implored.

'I don't like being barked at.' Zenna admitted. 'I'll just stay here until you've gone and then I'll find my sister so she can take me home.'

'Frisket! Stop barking at Zenna! You're scaring her,' Enzo commanded. Frisket stopped barking and looked slightly sheepish. 'Are you going to come down now?'

'I really would rather wait on my own.'

'Why? Don't you like your sister?'

Zenna took a deep breath. 'Has anyone in your family… um… done something that's really, horribly, devastatingly bad?'

'Oh yes.' Enzo agreed, sighing.

'I can't go back to my home system. My mother bit my father's head off again.'

Enzo laughed. 'Dot does that to Bob all the time! That's no reason to run away...'

'It didn't grow back.' Zenna stated, carefully keeping her voice from quavering. 'Not this time.'

Enzo boggled. 'Not this time?' A series of horrifying images loomed large on the imagination of the young sprite. They would never leave him.

'My sister wants to take me back to our mother and I'm afraid that I'll be next.'

A shred of compassion moved in Enzo. 'If you tell Bob, or my sister Dot… or even Phong – any of them can help you. We'll think of some way to help you.'

'They won't believe me. Ideal told me that nobody believes kids.'

'I believe you.'

'You're just a kid too, though.'

'Fine, wait by yourself then.' Enzo huffed. 'Come on Frisket.'

Zenna watched as Enzo and Frisket travelled out of earshot, then whipped the key tool out of the folds of her coat. She needed to open a portal to another system and travel to somewhere her sister could not find her.

'See?' Hack pointed out, 'She is the right one – she's got a key tool, so she must be a Guardian.'

'Unless she stole it,' Slash pointed out.

'What?' Hack snapped. 'You can't steal a key tool off a guardian. If you could, don't you think the boss would have tried it by now?'

'Hmm,' Slash mused. He looked over at Zenna, who was engrossed in the tiny circular screen of the key tool. The metal meathead had a sudden flash of inspiration and extended one of his arms and grabbed Zenna by the hand that was holding the key tool. Too late, Zenna kicked and screamed but was powerless as Slash retracted his arm, bring the girl with him.

The commotion alerted Enzo, who could only watch as his new acquaintance was carried off to Silicon Tor. He considered following on his zip-board, but then Bob would not know where he had gone. He also considered venturing into Lost Angles to tell Bob what had happened to Zenna, but he had been told in no uncertain terms no to follow. Normally, this would not have stopped him, but Enzo still smarted from Zenna's "just a kid" comment and he decided to sit and wait.

A shameful, spiteful part of Enzo's psyche hoped an encounter with Megabyte's minions would teach her a lesson.

…

Bob and Ideal sat at a prettily decorated table, laden with cakes and biscuits.

'Look, Hex, this is very kind of you, but we really need to know if you have seen Ideal's sister Zenna here.' He glanced at the other Guardian, who was gazing around the throne room. 'She's so young to be wandering around on her own – she's smaller than Enzo – and Ideal is really worried.'

'Yes.' Hexadecimal intoned, wearing the most sarcastic mask she could find. 'I can tell.'

'It's much emptier than I had imagined,' Ideal remarked. 'Zenna would like it here.'

Hex brightened. 'She did! She ate up so many cakes and sandwiches!' the virus sighed and looked wistful for a brief moment before snapping back to low-level aggression. 'So you had better eat up before a bug lands on them...'

'A bug?' Bob questioned. 'You've got them here too?'

'Like this thing?' Ideal asked, bringing the crushed remains of the bug she had caught earlier out of her pocket and showing it to Bob, who instantly recognised the insignia on the back.

'What's Megabyte doing with bugs?' he asked, not really expecting an answer. 'Glitch – analysis.'

Glitch clicked, whirred and transformed into a microscope.

Bob nudged the teapot out of the way to place the microscope on the table. The teapot scuttled behind the jam pot and hid. Bob peered down the eyepiece of the microscope at the bug and fiddled with the focus knob.

'What's it doing?' Ideal asked.

Bob looked perplexed. 'It's transmitting visual data of everything it flies past and positional data of where it was.'

'How can you tell that?' Ideal asked.

'All the components are labelled.' Bob explained, and invited Ideal to look at the squashed bug. Sure enough, each tiny component was labelled "ze camera", "ze internal navigation", "ze transmitter" and, of course, "ze switch".

'What would this Megabyte character want with a bug like this?' Ideal asked.

'Who knows,' Bob shrugged, returning Glitch to his forearm. 'But I'll have to go and stop him, then we can get on with finding your sister.'

Ideal was indignant. 'How can you be so sure he needs to be stopped? I thought the priority was finding my sister?'

Bob sighed and tried be as tactful as he could. 'Whatever that virus up do, it's bound to be bad news for Mainframe, and that means bad news for everyone, which currently includes your sister.'

Ideal massaged her temples as she tries to process this.

'So… you've got more than one virus in your system and you let them run around uncontrolled? How come all of Rainframe...'

'Mainframe.' Bob corrected her.

'Mainframe, whatever, doesn't look like that chaotic twisted wasteland we just walked though?'

'That's my home!' Hexadecimal interrupted, crossly.

'Will you two let me finish a sentence?' Ideal snapped.

'It's not a sentence, it's a monologue.' Bob calmly pointed out.

'What would you do if the Guardian Malpractice Committee caught up with you?'

Bob looked uncomfortable.

'He has to stay here!' Hexadecimal grinned triumphantly. 'Bob here has got a case statement that specifies that while me and Megabyte are in Mainframe, he has to stay here and keep us under control!' at this point the virus could no longer control her mirth and erupted in a peal of cackling laughter that echoed around the hall.

'Is that true?' the young guardian asked.

Bob shuffled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. 'Yeah.'

'What if you wanted to leave Mainframe?' Ideal asked

'Not going to happen.' Bob insisted. 'Wild trojan horses couldn't eject me from this place.'

'You had better hope they don't.' Ideal remarked ominously, putting her teacup down.

'Leaving so soon?' Hex asked, appearing directly in front of the two Guardians as they got up from the table to leave.

'Er...' said Bob.

'What's that up there?' Ideal asked, pointing at a faraway spot on the ceiling. As soon as Hex turned to look, Ideal grabbed Bob' wrist and made a dash for the door.

Realizing she was alone again, Hexadecimal donned her most melancholy mask and slumped in her throne.

Scuzzy began licking the cream off the scones.

...

Thank you for reading. If indeed, you still are... ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I do not own the rights to ReBoot and have no legal or moral right to create this story. I have written it purely for entertainment purposes.

 **CHAPTER FOUR: FINAL CHAPTER  
**

Zenna sat alone in a cell in Silicon Tor. Graffiti on the grubby wall read 'Cyrus waz yer' and the smell of stale urine hung in the air. A viral binome snored noisily with a bunch of keys tantalisingly close, but utterly unreachable beyond the impenetrable force-field that the young sprite had already tried to breach. She held the key tool in her hand and addressed it directly.

'Why did you bond with me instead of my sister? She's the cadet.'

Lexie emitted a series of peeps.

'I know, but I'm not cut out to be a guardian. I'm not brave enough and… well… what I am.'

Lexie beeped. Footsteps approached. A prickle of fear climbed up Zenna's spine.

'Lexie, hair bow.' Zenna commanded. The key tool transformed into a dark blue bow with the key tool cogwheel proudly glinting in the centre.

'Lexie, come on. You can do better than that.'

Lexie peeped mournfully.

'Lexie, please, I need you to hide.' Zenna paused. 'Do it for my father.'

Lexie vibrated and turned bright pink. Zenna fixed the gaudy accessory into her hair and turned to face the door where Hack and Slash arrived with Bunnyfoot. The snoring binome leaped to his feet and lowered the force field to allow Zenna to step out. She knew running would be pointless even before she was handcuffed to the monstrously misaligned binome.

'The boss is ready to see you now.' Hack informed the sprite.

'Okay.' Zenna nodded and followed the virus' favourite henchmen. They led her through corridors rimmed with power conduits to a cage lift with a puddle of oil near the doorway. Zenna was glad that nobody tried to talk to her. It gave her more time to compose herself.

Once inside Megabyte's control room, Zenna could not help but be impressed by the virus' sense of theatre. The only light came from a now-complete wireframe map of Mainframe that rotated slowly above the empty seats and discarded controllers. The virus directed his hover throne in through a door with such a bright light behind him that all Zenna could see was his outline. She noted the breadth of his shoulders and suspected that he was a much more powerful virus than her mother. When he fully entered into the light and Zenna could see his immense physical form, Zenna realized that it was definitely the case. She met his penetrating gaze and found it impossible to look away, Megabyte's eyes glowed redder as he scowled at the little sprite. Zenna's pale blue eyes widened and her stomach churned into a freezing knot.

'Are you sure she's a guardian?'

'Oh yes boss,' Hack assured him. 'She's got a key tool.'

'I saw it too.' Slash confirmed.

'Is that so?' Megabyte questioned, then held out a clawed hand to Zenna. 'Give it to me.'

'I'm sorry sir, I don't have it.' Zenna lied. 'I dropped it when your security officers picked me up.'

Hack and Slash were decidedly flattered at this description.

'Did you hear that?' Hack hissed excitedly at Slash. 'She called us officers!'

Megabyte lifted his face from his palm to address his tinplate troublemakers. 'Go back out there and find the key tool.'

'Uh boss?' Questioned Slash.

'You didn't understand what I asked you?'

'What about the girl?'

Megabyte grinned. 'Leave her with me.'

Alone with Megabyte, save for Bunnyfoot, Zenna felt even more afraid.

'I'm going to ask you one more time, give me the key tool.'

'I'm sorry sir, but I really don't have it.' Zenna replied, utterly terrified. She knew the consequences of handing a key tool to a virus and dug deep into every cache of courage she had, hoping there would be enough for her to find another chance to escape.

'Do you expect me to believe that?'

'Yes sir.'

Megabyte chuckled. 'My, you are the defiant one. It's almost as if you're not afraid of me.'

'I am, sir.' Zenna confessed. 'You must be the most powerful virus I have ever met.'

Megabyte was intrigued. 'Have you met a lot of viruses?'

Zenna swallowed hard. 'I met your neighbour, Hexadecimal.'

Megabyte laughed and inspected his claws. 'Ah yes, dear, eccentric Hexadecimal. I could talk about her all day, but I've got a system to take over and a key tool to obtain.'

The virus rose from his hover throne, reattached his legs, and towered over the little sprite. He snapped the handcuffs that bound her to Bunnyfoot, releasing the binome, who clumped away between the empty seats, stumbling over wires as he went. Zenna dreaded to think what the virus was planning to do without any witnesses. Megabyte grasped Zenna's shoulder and lifted her clean off her feet, bringing her to his eye level. She could feel his claws digging in to her shoulder, just enough to stop her falling to the floor, but no so hard as to crush the joint itself, which he could so easily do. Not that this would be a long term problem for Zenna, it would still hurt.

'If you won't give me the key tool, I will just have to take it.'

'I… I don't…'

Megabyte extended one claw and aimed it at Zenna's neck.

'No… Don't… Please...' Zenna begged.

Without breaking eye contact, Megabyte slashed through the front of Zenna's coat, sending half of the front fluttering to the floor like a discarded handkerchief. There was clearly no key tool hidden in its folds. A thin red line oozed through a fresh rip in the shoulder of Zenna's pink blouse.

'I... really... don't... have... it...' Zenna said quietly, on the verge of completely breaking down.

'I'll just have to look harder then.' Megabyte leered, extending a second claw, hand poised above the girl's head, a whisker away from the large pink bow fastened to her pewter coloured pigtails.

Zenna knew the next blow would dislodge the keytool from her head and the game would be up. She felt something dribble down her left nostril and sniffed it away hurriedly. Megabyte shifted his jaw, flashing a few rows of teeth.

Megabyte slashed downwards again, with a triumphant little grunt.

The rest of Zenna's coat crumpled to the floor and landed in a fresh, warm puddle. One of Zenna's pigtails landed on top. The keytool remained unscathed. The bug that had led Hack and Slash to the girl's position tumbled out with a small clatter.

Megabyte looked at the mess on the floor and shrugged.

'I seems you did not have a key tool after all. I do apologise.' the virus said with utmost sincerity. 'I would tell you to go, but it appears you already have.' and he placed Zenna on the floor, next to her ruined coat.

Zenna staggered a little and looked for a way out. Suddenly a familiar voice called her name from the void above the control room.

'Zenna! What in the net do you think you're doing? Give me back my key tool, now!'

'Uh...' Bob began, so shocked by the callous reaction of the guardian upon discovering her younger sister at the mercy of Megabyte. He followed Ideal down into the void of Megabyte's control room with Enzo trailing behind. The smaller sprite saw the state of Zenna and instantly regretted not telling Bob that she had been taken by Hack and Slash.

'She doesn't have a key tool.' Megabyte informed her. 'I checked quite thoroughly.'

Ideal sniffed. 'Zenna… was that you?'

Zenna looked at the floor. 'I'm sorry, I was scared.' Every particle of fear she had previously felt was now replaced by a deep and burning humiliation.

'When I get you home...'

Bob stood between the sisters. 'You are not taking that child anywhere.' He stated firmly. 'There is something very wrong going on here and neither of you are leaving my sight until I have got to the bottom of it.'

Ideal looked defiant. Zenna gazed in wonderment at her knight in shining dreadlocks, not minding in the slightest that he had called her a child.

'I thought you had more important things to do than fret over my sister.' Ideal sneered.

Bob pressed his lips together and did not reply, instead turning back to Megabyte.

'Nice map.' He said, indicating the map with his thumb, which was beginning to fill with with little yellow dots. 'What has that got to do with the little tiny bugs you've sent flying around the city?'

'Oh, you found them?' Megabyte smiled. 'Good, aren't they?' Extravagantly unfurling an arm, the virus spelled out his plan.

'I have mapped out every corner of the city and have sent my viral forces throughout it so they can wait for my order to attack. They all know where they are thanks to the data gathered from my drones. The CPUs will have no chance to retaliate because everywhere will be under attack all at once and then Mainframe will be mine!' He paused. 'Do remind me to thank Dot for organizing it all so well in her defrag.'

'Impressive.' Bob nodded, taking care to not look at either Enzo or Ideal. 'You've really got us this time.'

'Bob!' Enzo protested. 'You can't give up that easily!'

Bob shrugged. 'Nothing I can do now.'

Megabyte looked baffled. 'Is that all you're going to say? I was hoping for an I-don't-think-so at the very least.'

'Well, there's nothing anyone can do now, so why fight it?'

'Have it your way, then.' Megabyte strode up to a control panel facing the map, which still rotated gently. Index finger poised over an ominously red button, Megabyte turned to grin at Bob one more time.

Bob waved back.

Megabyte pressed the button.

Nothing happened.

Enzo stood the other side of the control panel, out of sight, holding a disconnected wire.

Megabyte looked around and saw the sprite, who immediately dropped the wire and retreated. The virus growled and snatched up the wire and attempted to reconnect it. Behind him, the wireframe map flickered and distorted. Ideal popped up from behind a processor box and cracked her first smile since arriving.

'What have you done!?' Megabyte roared.

'It was quite simple.' Ideal smiled. 'All the location data you had collected was stored in plain text, so I just, y'know, mixed it up a bit.' she turned back to the keyboard and continued tapping away with a laugh that only served to pour fuel on the fire of Megabyte's wrath. He picked Ideal up by the wrist, unsheathed the weapons on the back of his hand and aimed squarely at the guardian's face.

'Megabyte! No!' Bob called, but Ideal was closer.

'Lexie! Axe!' she commanded.

Bob shouted. 'That won't stop him!'

'Yes it will!' Zenna growled. She swung the axe and sliced her sister's arm off at the elbow.

Megabyte stared, horrified, at what he held in his hand until it disappeared in a small cloud of lilac energy. Bob had already scooped the injured guardian off the floor and cradled her in his arms, distressed by the brutal actions of the young sprite.

'Lexie! Balloon!'

The key tool transformed into a hot air balloon which began to drift upwards. Zenna leaped into the basket and helped Bob deposit her sister in before he leaped in himself, swiftly followed by Enzo. Zenna yanked hard on the cord and the balloon shot upwards, out of the reach of Megabyte who could only watch as they drifted away. In the control room, vid-windows began to pop open with viral binomes complaining that they didn't know where they were or what they were supposed to be doing next.

Megabyte sighed and ordered them all to return to the Tor.

…

In the basket of the balloon, chaos reigned.

Ideal screamed and thrashed in pain while Bob physically held the two sisters apart.

'I need to get to my sister!' Zenna pleaded.

'You've done enough!' Bob ordered. 'Sit down while I steer this thing to the Principal Office.'

'She's right,' Ideal hissed through gritted teeth, clutching the stump of her arm. 'Come on – do your thing.'

The four shuffled around in the basket and Bob took control of the balloon. He watched Zenna gently cradle her sister's wound, take a deep breath and close her eyes. Small clouds of lilac energy formed around Zenna's fingers and the worked them around the space where the guardian's arm should have been. Bob and Enzo watched, amazed, as Zenna formed a new arm for her sister. Ideal flexed her regenerated fingers and tutted.

'There was really no need for you to do that.' she complained. 'I had that virus completely under my control.'

'Uh, no you didn't.' Bob corrected her. 'You were about to be deleted and you were still giving him lip! It's like you weren't even afraid of him.'

'I wasn't.'

'Well, you should have been.'

'I can handle viruses.' Ideal bragged. 'It's this one I've got to watch out for.' and she poked her sister in the shoulder. Zenna winced and repaired the wound Megabyte had inflicted on her.

'Is that because she stole your key tool?'

'It's mine.' Zenna protested wearily. 'It bonded with me after Dad… went.'

Ideal was shocked. 'You were there? Why didn't you save him? You just wanted to take his key tool, didn't you? You wanted a toy to play with like a child, didn't you?!' Ideal lunged at her younger sister, but she dodged behind Bob.

'No! I did try to save him, but he was too badly damaged. I couldn't manage it and Mum got really angry when Lexie bonded with me and tried to take her off me.'

'So what if Mum took Lexie?' Ideal shrugged. 'She would have given her straight to me, right?'

Zenna bit her lip.

Bob looked perturbed. There was something not right about these two and he was determined to find out what it was. Turning away and tugging on the balloon's burner to mask his voice, he quietly opened Glitch's communication screen.

'Phong, could you let me use the static analysis room? I need to perform a code review… Actually make that two… I'm coming into the Principal Office by balloon… Don't ask.'

…

Inside the gleaming whiteness of the infirmary, Bob and Phong studied the results of the code review. Phong was upset.

'I cannot believe that I let you bring those two into the Principal Office.' Phong said, looking through the glass partition into the waiting area where the two Diode sisters sat a respectful distance from each other. Zenna sat quietly while Ideal sat with her arms folded, legs crossed and a face like thunder, glaring at Enzo who was apologizing to Zenna for letting Hack and Slash take her away.

Bob sighed. 'I know she's a virus, but the results prove that she is benign. It's the other one I'm concerned about.' He scrolled through a page of text. Large parts were highlighted in red. 'Whoever downloaded the guardian protocols onto her did a really bad job. She's throwing unhandled exceptions all over the place.'

'No wonder she's so… disagreeable.' Phong remarked. 'It really is a shame we can't help her.'

'I know Phong.' Bob agreed, standing up to leave the room. 'There is only one place that can.'

As soon as Bob opened the door, Ideal sprang to her feet. 'Can we go home now?'

'I'm afraid that's completely out of the question.' Phong sighed.

Ideal's jaw dropped while Zenna looked relieved. Bob cut in quickly.

'Could you tell me about your mother?'

'Our mother?' Ideal questioned. 'What do you want to know?'

'She's a virus.' Zenna admitted quietly, hardly daring to look up. 'Our father knew all about you, Bob the guardian who believed in restoring viruses, so he spent his whole life trying to turn our mother around. All it did was make her angrier and angrier, so he made Ideal a cadet in case something happened to him and one day… it did. Mum just bit Dad's head off.'

Stunned silence.

Ideal reacted angrily. 'That is the most disgusting, hateful lie I have ever heard you tell!' She turned to Bob. 'Don't believe a word of it – she's always making up stories.'

'Ideal, You sister is right.' Bob explained gently. 'You both have viral elements in your code, that's what makes you so angry and gives Zenna the power to replicate.'

The young guardian opened her mouth, made a strange noise and sat down heavily in the chair next to her sister. 'All this time.' Ideal muttered to herself. 'How come I didn't know?'

'Dad kept it from you.' Zenna explained. 'He wanted you to be the system's guardian and he didn't think you could do that if you knew the truth about mum.'

Ideal dropped her head into her hands. 'How do you know all these things that I don't?'

'I read his logfiles.'

'How can I ever look my own mother in the eye ever again?'

'You don't.' Bob stated. 'There is only one place for you two now.' He paused and grinned. 'The Guardian Academy.'

'Alphanumeric!' Enzo cried. 'You're going to be guardians! I told you that Bob could sort things out for you! Can I come visit?'

'But what will happen to our home system?' Ideal asked, 'We can't let a virus loose, the place will be offlined!'

'I've got that all figured out.' Bob reassured her. 'I can arrange for someone to keep an eye on things for you while you learn how to become a fully fledged guardian.'

Zenna spoke up. 'I can't be a guardian though. I'm a virus and no matter how benign I am, that will never change.'

Bob looked a little disappointed. 'It's a shame, because you already have the "mend" part of being a guardian sorted out – that's probably why your father's key tool bonded with you rather than your sister. One thing I can do is make you a protected member of the Guardian Academy, so they can help you.'

'And not delete me?'

'Not if you're a protected member.'

The young virus removed her icon and placed it into the gurdian's outstretched hand. Bob unpinned his own icon and downloaded some code. When Zenna replaced her icon, a gold circle glinted around the circumference. 'Thank you, Bob.' she smiled.

…

At the port, Bob helped Ideal and Zenna back into the phishing boat.

'Nice boat,' Bob remarked and read the name printed on the side of the vessel. 'The Mary Sue. That's a pretty name.'

'Thanks,' Ideal smiled. 'I built her from scratch.'

Bob nodded. 'You must have put a lot of yourself into her.'

'Hey Bob,' Zenna asked, 'When Ideal has graduated from the Academy, can I come and live in Mainframe with you and Enzo?'

'Sure you can, as long as your sister says so.' Bob agreed with a little laugh. 'You're a protected member now.' He bent down, loosed the phishing boat from it's moorings and waved at the sisters as the fired up the engines and steered towards a tear a little way out on the Energy Sea. He watched as Zenna stabilized it into a portal to the Super Computer and the little craft disappeared

...

Thanks you for reading! If indeed, you still are.


End file.
